On Cold Days in Minnesota and Late Starts.

Last night when the phone rang and the voice on the other line announced a two-hour late start for school today. My heart leaped.

We are sleeping in tomorrow. I told J. "We" being me and the kids of course. He had appointments and clients to see so he'd still be getting up and heading in to work in the frigid weather.

Yes, the temps around the great state of Minnesota have substantially dropped. This mornings actual temp: -14 degrees. Yes, that's NEGATIVE 14. That doesn't include the windchill which was about 40 below zero.

Yowzers. That's cold.

So when I heard this news, after having J and I running around last night to get one child to gymnastics and another to a music concert, I was pleased.

A nice toasty bed, no alarm clock telling me when to get up and wake up the troops. Nice.

Except I must have forgotten that these children no longer believe in sleeping in. By 6:30am, H was in my bed with me as I willed him to lay down, close his eyes and go to sleep. By 7am, M had joined the party asking me every few moments if I was sleeping.

"Umm, no, it's nearly impossible to sleep with a 27 pound kid squishing my guts and bruising me in places I didn't think could be bruised. Your questions aren't helping either."

Finally, at 7:10am, only one hour later than our usual school wake up time, I gave in. To the living room we came to watch the early morning news and weather.

By 7:30am, T was up too.

With a two-hour late start that meant the kids did not need to be to school until 9:40am. This means we had TWO HOURS PLUS of morning time.

Why, again was I excited for this two hour late start?

Here's a summary of morning activities that took place in my home this morning:
Mario Golf.
M e-mailed her mom, dad and cousin.
Tony Hawk Skateboard game.
555-Meow (this is a game M invented where the chase H around the house screaming 555-Meow. It was after this game that I needed to take an ibuprofen.)
Dance Party in M's bedroom.
T wrote out his birthday thank you's.
M and H then decorated the envelopes because if one child is doing something that seems craft-like they all must.
Played a rousing game of pick up sticks.
I listened to H go, "Ty, mine, mine, no..." and the other two go, "Henry, no." repeatedly.

When I checked my e-mail this morning, I had a message from a friend of mine I used to work with. He said,

"...Delaying the schools was a smart move..."

To which I replied,

"Delaying the schools was a smart move if you have no children. If you
have children, you are like me, and going crazy while children are running
amok."

So my two cents on this matter is, until these kids sleep in, either send them to school or call off the whole day. None of this delay business. I'd rather have the whole day to lounge around in pajamas, watch cartoons and relax instead of this false sense of freedom and then the hurry and scurry associated with the late start.

What really was the icing on the cake was at 9:30am as I was trying to pile all three kids into the still-cold-even-though-it's-been-running-10-minutes-van and I noticed that T had not brushed his teeth. M, as well had somehow 'forgotten' this daily routine as well.

Seriously? We have two plus hours of time this morning and you 'forgot' to brush your teeth? Back upstairs they went to brush all bundled up.

One plus of the morning was after I dropped the kids off at school (I couldn't let them ride the bus, could I?) I drove over to Caribou and definitely bought an un-needed but very much wanted hot cocoa. I'd say, after my morning, it was well-deserved.